1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a card reader for checking cards, such as credit cards, and more particularly to a card reader having an anitabrasion member preventing a card checking passage of the card reader from being abraded due to direct contact with the card and integrally formed with a main body of the card reader.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, credit cards are regarded as the third currency and wide used instead of cash. Such a wide use of the credit cards is necessarily attended with checking whether the credit card is valid and this causes wide use of the card readers.
Conventionally in order to check whether the credit card has been stolen, lost or expired or it is a card which is unusable as a result of exceeding its credit limit, a card reader reads, by using a magnet head, information recorded on the card and stores the card data, such as the number of remaining months of installment and a totaled amount of used money, in its memory. The card reader in turn transmits the card data to a host computer through a modem employing a public data network. Upon reception of the card data, the host computer analyzes the card data in order to give the inquirer the response. In inquiry of the credit card by employing such a card reader, the information recorded on the credit card should be read by the magnet head so that the card is required to be inserted into a narrower card checking passage, generally formed at the right side of the card reader and provided with the magnet head, and to be rectilinearly reciprocated therein.
With reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B, there is partially shown an embodiment of a conventional card reader. The conventional card reader has a narrower card checking passage 2 which is provided with the magnet head 1 for reading the information recorded on a card (not shown) to be checked. In application, the repeated rectilinear reciprocation of the cards causes the abrasion of a bottom surface of the checking passage 2 due to a contact pressure generated between the bottom surface of the checking passage 2 and the card. In this regard, it has been required to provide the card checking passage 2 with an antiabrasion member for prevention of the contact abrasion of the bottom surface of the passage 2.
In order to achieve such an object, an antiabrasion member 3 of a metal plate has merged with the bottom part of the checking passage 2. Such a merging of the antiabrasion member 3 with the passage 2 is accomplished by inserting this member 3 in an injection mold before an injection molding of a main body 4 of the card reader and, thereafter, molding the main body 4 integrated with the member 3. Here, the antiabrasion member 3 has bent parts 5 at its both ends for facilitating the insertion of the card. In application, the narrower side surface of the card comes into contact with the antiabrasion member 3 instead of the bottom surface of the checking passage 2 when the card is rectilinearly reciprocated in the checking passage 2 with respect to the magnet head 1. Therefore, the bottom surface of the checking passage 2 comes into direct contact with the card and prevented from contact abrasion.
However, such a conventional card reader has a problem in the insertion of the antiabrasion member 3 into the injection mold before the injection molding of the main body 4. Otherwise stated, the insertion of the antiabrasion member 3 into the mold, the insertion having been generally achieved by employing, for example, tweezers since a part of the mold corresponding to the checking passage 2 is narrower and deeper, is very difficult because the member 3 has no grip means. Furthermore, the antiabrasion member 3 is apt to be displaced from its place in the mold even by a slight vibration generated when a movable part and a stationary part of the injection mold engage other, thereby causing the mold to be broken away. In addition, the antiabrasion member 3 having the magnet head 1 at its center portion is integrally formed with the main body 4 of the card reader such that the magnet head 1 can not be changed with new one. Thus, the known card reader has a problem in that the magnet head can not be changed with a low-priced one, the magnet head having been cheaper according to the remarkable technical development in the art, thereby providing no reduction in the manufacturing and maintaining cost.